Information for Providers

Documents for Providers

PDF Document Financial Procedures for the Housing Support Provider (PDF file, 95KB)

PDF Document Business Plan (PDF file, 320KB)

The Review Process

The first round of reviews will be based on client groups and coincide with other strategic reviews taking place. Sheltered Housing, Ex-offender Schemes and schemes where we have concerns will be reviewed in the first year up to 2005. We will inform you when your organisation will be reviewed.

There are 4 stages in the review process.

Stage 1 - strategic review

Strategic relevance - how does your service fit in with our Shadow Strategy and other relevant strategies? If you've not looked at the Shadow Strategy, please contact us for a copy.
Demand - is there a demand for your service? Your key stakeholders, including your service users and referring agencies will be asked about this.

Stage 2 - desktop review

Cost effectiveness - does your organisation offer Value for Money?
The 6 areas of the Quality Assessment Framework, i.e.:
- Needs and Risks assessment
- Support planning
- Security, health and safety
- Protection from abuse
- Fair access, diversity and inclusion
- Complaints
The 4 minimum Service Performance Indicators:
- Service availability
- Utilisation levels
- Staffing levels
- Throughput

Stage 3 - further evidence: a reality check

Meetings with providers
Meetings with stakeholders
Validation visits to qualify and confirm your self assessment from the QAF and will include discussions with your service users

Stage 4 - outcome: one of 4 decisions

Recommission
Decommission
Remodel
Transfer to another provider

The Quality Assessment Framework

This will be a self assessment audit that you will be expected to submit to us on a quarterly basis. It is at 4 levels with D indicating a cause for concern and immediate remedial action. Level A indicates excellence and the QAF toolkit will enable continuous improvement so that level A can eventually be attained.

Do not panic if you are at level D. Tell us about your concerns and the areas you need assistance in. We are here to help you.

Needs assessment, individual support planning and reviews
Do you have policies, procedures and guidelines in place? Proper assessments of support needs and associated risk are the cornerstone of support provision. Does your organisation do this?
Security, health and safety
Your policy should be less than 5 years old. If it's older than that, you need to review it as soon as possible. Remember also that this doesn't only apply to premises - think about the health and safety of lone workers.
Protection from abuse
Do you have a policy and guidance in place? If not, we can supply you with these so that you can amend them for your organisation.
Fair access, diversity and inclusion
Do you have an Equal Opportunities Policy, and harassment policies and procedures? Is particular attention paid to ensuring fair access to Black and Minority Ethnic groups (BME) and harder to reach groups? Is your user consultation all inclusive of BME and harder to reach groups?

You will also need to be thinking about the resources required to reach required standards. Do your staff have the skills to do this? It will be useful to carry out a skills audit and a training needs assessment for your staff. Resource and financial implications will also have to be considered.

The 4 minimum SPI's

Service availability
The availability of your service against the capacity contracted for - looking at periods of non availability because of, for example, staff sickness or the premises not being open.
Utilisation levels
Looks at take up and non take up of services.
Staffing levels
Actual input of staff compared to contracted numbers of staff - this would be an indicator of any potential staffing problems.
Throughputs
This measures the amount of people who have received a service and who have ceased to receive a service over a period of time. Throughputs are assessed in the context of the aims and objectives of a service, what type of service it is and the intended duration of support.

Other Performance Indicators that you need to be aware of

KPI's - these will look at national Supporting People priorities and objectives.

Outcomes for services that support people to establish and maintain independent living.
Outcomes for services that move people on a planned way from temporary living.
Fair access to people who are eligible for SP services as measured by:
- Access through different types of referral routes
- Access for different type of client groups
- Access for people from BME groups

Local Performance Indicators

There are 11 of these for Administering Authorities to choose from plus an additional future LPI that refers to training. Additionally, we can also choose our own LPI's.

However, most of these LPI's are covered by either KPI's, the 4 minimum SPI's, the Quality Assessment Framework and the Interim Contract itself, so in actual fact, we will only be looking at 3 additional areas if we choose to use all of them.

Utilisation levels - see SPI's
Staffing levels - see SPI's
Service availability - see SPI's
Cost/price of services - see Stage 2 - desktop review
Support plans - see QAF
Review of support plans - see QAF
Fair access to vulnerable people who require SP services - see QAF

The remaining LPI's that are not covered by any of the above are:

Services that are subject to a quality audit
This measures the extent to which providers self audit their services. There still needs to be a clear definition of what a quality audit is and how it should be undertaken. Providers could argue that the QAF is a self assessment audit.
Training (future PI)
This will eventually measure the proportion of staff who meet minimum national training standards for Supporting People. These of course have yet to be defined and as yet we have no indication of when they will be defined and how providers are going to meet these requirements. However, even in the absence of this, it is good practice to carry out a skills audit and training needs assessment for your staff so that minimum standards can be attained.

Our own Local Performance Indicators

Percentage of service users who are assisted into education, training and employment
This is a LPI that we are considering for future use here in Bexley. The rationale behind this is that in the consultation exercises we have carried out, getting back into work and receiving support and training to do this is an area that service users have told us that they want to receive. We are very committed to service users receiving the services they want and need.
Percentage of service users who are assisted into wider community participation e.g.: leisure and social activities, participation in community groups
This LPI is also based on feedback from user consultation and one that we are considering to introduce in Bexley. Many service users have commented on feelings of isolation, wanting more participation in the wider community but needing support to achieve this.

Although these two PI's are being considered for future use they are areas we would like all providers to be aware of and to ensure that you have policies and procedures developed to meet these needs.

Our Inclusive Vision of the SP Review Process

We are very committed to user consultation and participation in Bexley's Supporting People team. We believe that service users are "experts by experience" and are therefore the best people to actually comment on services. Involving service users in the process leads to a user led service and a framework for improving services and performance.

We therefore wish to involve all key stakeholders in the review process and of course, this will include service users. We are planning to set up Review Teams that will include representatives from Commissioners of Services, e.g. Social Services, Advocacy Groups, Service Users and Carers.

Local Benchmarking Groups

This is an area we are currently looking to develop with providers and other Supporting People Teams.

Are you a member of any existing Benchmarking groups?
Are these based on client groups?
Where are they based?
Do you want us to assist you in setting these up?

If you want to be involved in Benchmarking please contact the Bexley SP Team.